Art of manufacturing hosiery and other garments



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CL. S. PUSEY.

ART OF MANUFACTURING HOSIERY AND OTHER GARMENTS. No. 361,079. PatentedApr. 12, 1887..

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CAROLINE S. PUSEY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 361,079, dated April12, 1887. Application filed November 25, 1884. Serial No. 148,797. Nomodel.)

.To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CAROLINE S. PUsEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at the city and county of Philadelphia, and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in theMethod of Uniting Fabrics by Sewing, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings.

The nature of my inventionis an improved method of uniting by sewingtogether the edges of stockings and other fabrics.

The invention is more especially applicable or useful in the manufactureof stockings, and particularly in that class of the same known as cutgoods. Its object is to obviate the well-known and serious objection tosuch goods arising from the hard, raised, andinsufficientlyelasticseams, which hurt the feet of the wearer. I accomplish this objectthrough means of a method of uniting, by sewing, the freemargins of thefabric together in such a manner that in lieu of the aforesaidobjectionable and hitherto unavoidable seams a smooth or flush elasticseam is produced.

The articles of manufacture resulting from the application ofmyiiinproved method or process form the subject of an application forLetters Patent, the serial number of which application is 173,84.9. Ihave also filed an application for apatent (Serial No. 180,717) in whichI mention another method of practicing my invention, in which latterapplication I claim the invention broadly, which herein is claimed onlyin a particular or specific form.

I shall now proceed to describe what I consider the best modes ofcarrying out my invention, reference being had to the annexed drawings,of which- Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section through the twomargins of a knit fabric being sewed together. Fig. 2 is a sectionacross the seam of the fabric after the ends of the free edges thereofhave been brought flush and opu posite each other. Fig. 3 is a plan,greatly magnified, of a portion of the united fabric at and near themargins thereof. Fig. etis a section taken on the vertical line uponwhich the superposed margins are sewed together. Fig. 5 is a sideelevation of a finished stocking whose cut edges have been unitedaccording to my invention, part of the same being cut away, in order toshow the inner side of one of the seams. Fig. 6 is a perspective view ofa device which I have used for keeping separate the two sides or edgesof the fabric while being sewed together. Fig. 7 is a a sectional viewsimilar to Fig. 1, illustrating a modification in one of the steps ofthe invention. 4

Like letters of reference where they occur in the several figuresindicate the same or cor-. responding parts.

I interpose between the two overlapped edges cc of the fabric to beunited, either before commencing the sewing or continuously- -as thesame proceeds, some suitable material or device, b, and such as willpermit the needle n of the machine to pass through the same in sewing,and which may be subsequently withdrawn, thereby leaving a space betweenthe two superposed layers of the fabric, which space is spanned by thesewingthreads t, Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 represents one form of device (not of my invention, however)thatI have used for the purpose mentioned. It is also seen in crosssectionin Fig. 1, (1),) and consists of a long plate of wood, metal, or othersuitable substance, having a longitudinal slot, therein, which is openat the rear end, andis provided with lateral flanges z, the widthbetween which is about equal to the width of the presser-foot p of thesewing-machine plus the thickness of the fabric. These flanges serve toinsure the needle passing through slot 3 by preventing the plate frommoving laterally.

The teeth of the feed-motion, (not shown,) working through the bed-platef, carry for ward, in the usual manner, the under layer, a, of thefabric, and with-it, by friction, the separator-plate b and the upperlayer, a, the latter sliding against the smooth bottom of thepresser-footthat is to say, the threepartsonlayers are advancedsimultaneously. \Vhen the length of the slot, or a partthereof, has beentraversed, the separator is drawn back anydesired distance, the line ofthreads t, Fig. 4, passing out through the slot, and the sewing is againproceeded with, and so on, if required. When the sewing is completed, oras the same proceeds, the free edges of the fabric are cut off at adistance outside the line of stitching equal to about one-half thethickness of the separator-that is to say, one-half the distance betweenthe separated layers of the stuff. If these outside free margins are nottoo wide for the final object in view, hereinafter ex plained, thetrimming will, of course, be unnecessary.

The sewing having been entirely completed in the manner described, thestuff thus sewed together is removed from the machine, and the two sidesare then drawn out, so that the edges of the free margins are broughtabout flush and in the same plane as in Figs. 2 and 3, also in Fig. 5,the threadstspanning over thespace between the two lines of stitching, dd.

The sewing is preferably done with quite a close short stitch undertension, so as to catch and bind as nearly as practicable the loopssuccessively of the stuff, as shown in Fig. 3. When the two sides of thefabric are stretched apart, as in the direction of the span of thethreads t, the stitches or loops of the latter bite, as it were, intothe loops or threads of the fabric, in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2at c c, and thus the latter are held the more firmly and securely.

It will be obvious from the foregoing that by the method described thereis no raised seam, and that the seam is laterally highly elastic-Tinfact, usually, the fabric may be stretched on the line of stitching-thatis, in the direction of the oppositely-pointing arrows, Fig. 3-as far asany other portion of the stuff will stretch in alike direction andwithout breaking the stitch-threads.

The series of threads t, which span the free marginsof the stuff, asmentioned, may be either on the usual outside of the finished article oron the inside thereof.

In sewing the layers together I have used a lock-stitch machine, such asthe Vhite machine; but a chain-stitch or other suitable machine may beemployed.

In the modification shown in Fig. 7 the two edges a a of the fabric tobe united are superposed in contact, instead of being separated, as inFig. 1, and a strip, 1), of suitable material of the required thicknessand readily penetrable by the needlesuch as paper-is placed or run inupon the bed-plate of the machine beneath the two layers aforesaid.After the sewing is finished the paper is removed, which leaves thatportion of the stitch-threads which had been enveloped by the paperstanding out free. The sides or layers of the fabric are then turnedover and pulled apart until the outstanding part of the threads is takenup and the edges of the stuff are brought opposite each other in thesame manner as previously described. The strip of paper, &c., may alsobe placed upon, instead of beneath, or between, the superposed layers.

It is scarcely necessary to observe that a slotted-plate device alonecannot be successfully used, except when interposed between the twolayers of fabric. If, however, it be placed beneath or above the layers,and a strip of paper or like material stiff enough to hold elastic seamis not required, but a flush seam is desirable in uniting the partstogether, especially in the case of quite thick fabrics.

I am fully aware of the fact that ordinary ornamental hem-stitching oftextile fabrics has been long practiced upon sewing-machines byinterposing a temporary stratum of paper, 850., between the two layersof material, wide margins being left which are afterward turned over andsewed to the main body of the fabric, leaving an open space between theopposite edges, across which the threads extend at com paratively wideintervals apart. I do not, therefore, claim any novelty per se in thismode of producing a hem-stitch; but

XVhat I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is asfollows:

1. The method of uniting fabrics, consisting in superposing their freeedges with a temporary stratum or body of suitable material adapted toallow the passage of the needle through the same, the thickness of saidstratum being equal to one-half the distance between the free edge ofthe fabric and theline of stitching to be done, then sewing through thelayers of fabric and said stratum, then removing the latter, and finallydrawing apart the sides of the fabric so that the said free edges willcome opposite to each other in the same plane without overlapping.

2. The improved method of uniting fabrics, consisting in superposingtheir free margins together by first interposing a removable stratum ofsuitable material between the superposed layers to be united, thenstitching said layers together through the separating stratum andtrimming off the margins of the fabric thus sewed together at a distancefrom the line of stitching equal to one'half the thickness of saidstratum, removing the latter, and then drawing apart the sides of thefabric so as to bringthe trimmed edges thereof opposite to each other inthe same plane without overlapping.

3. The method of uniting knit or looped fabrics, consisting in sewingtheir free margins together by i-nterposing a removable stratum ofsuitable material between the superposed layers to be united, thenstitching said layers together through the separating stratum with aclose stitch under tension, so that the successive loops of the fabricshall be severally caught and firmly compressed by the stitches,removing said stratum and trimming off the margins of the fabric thussewed together at a distance from the line of stitching equal toone-half therrthickness of said stratum, and tween said lines ofstitching, substantially as finally drawing apart the sides of the saidfabric and for the purpose set forth.

thus stitched together, so that they will come In testimony whereof Ihave hereunto afopposite and substantially in the same plane fixed mysignature this 22d day of November, 5 without overlapping, whereby theline of A. D. 1884.

stitch-threads shall not interfere with the lateral stretch of thefabric, and the margins CAROLINE PUSEY' thereof between the lines ofstitching are \Vitnesses: crossed and covered by the threads whichFRANCIS S. BROWN, 10 have been extended across the open space be- JOHNNOLAN.

